Monday, May 26, 2008

The Buck Stops There

It was never really about Maxime Bernier, it was always about the Prime Minister's lack of judgement and naked political opportunism. Bernier had no resume, everyone seemed to agree, and yet Harper elevated him to a vital portfolio, within the theme of "Canada is back", a serious player on the world stage. What Harper did, is put our international reputation at risk, by offering an objective lightweight, because he only cared about domestic prospects.

Bernier, given the helm, because the Prime Minister desperately wanted high profile Quebec representation in his government. Bernier was a strategy, wherein the only considerations were the self-interest of the Conservatives. What is really the key conclusion of this entire exercise, Harper is less concerned with our international standing, as he is currying favor with a desirable electorate. Quite a contrast to the rhetoric.

Quebecers should be insulted, that Harper thinks so little of them, that he would use Bernier to curry favor. That Harper would ignore the obvious limitations, and thrust Bernier to the fore, says to Quebecers I'm trying to buy your approval. Bernier was always a marketing strategy, a line or two in a false storyline of reaching out to Quebecers. The old Reformer pimped out his token francophone, used him to try and maximize. If Bernier was able, among other candidates, you could surely argue why he gets the nod, but here, SO out of his league, it reveals a really disturbing fundamental about Harper.

The legacy of Bernier has little to do with him. As other countries wonder, just what is happening with Canada, here it home, all we need to realize is that this whole farce speaks VOLUMES about who Harper is, what are his true motivations, and why he is ultimately bad news for Canada.

8 comments:

A harsh statement from you, Steve. I, for one, believed that Bernier was quite credible. Someone who headed the Montreal Institute and a law degree from Ottawa. If Bernier was a lightweight, then Lawrence Cannon and Josee Verner would have IQs in the double digits.

For me, Bernier was quite credible at Industry. Insiders said he fought hard in Cabinet and lost major battles with Flaherty over income trust and taxing the foreign interests of Canadian companies. Someone who came in with laissez faire, libertarian attitudes. In my previous blogposts, I was even calling for Bernier to be put into the Finance Department instead of Flaherty!!!

The story of Mad Max was that he was besotted by a woman who had links with the underworld. Bernier's appearance at his swearing-in ceremony and his attitude at Foreign Affairs represented a juvenile attempt to stick his middle finger at Harper, the mandarins in Foreign Affairs, and Peter MacKay. In the end, he showed bad judgment at the nth degree and a bright political career was shot down permanently in flames. I suspect that Mad Max will have his revenge. If his dad got elected as an Independent in the dark days of 1993 for defying Kim Campbell in Beauce, then Maxime can certainly exact a Lucien Bouchard-style revenge at Harper.

A juvenile maverick with an obsession with the deviant behaviour of a schoolboy. Maxime definitely was no different than many of Mulroney's MPs from Quebec. The people who should be insulted are the diehard Reform supporters as the Mulroneyites are crashing their party.

Resumes?Don't the check out the other 75% of Harperites. That western contingent is full of people that never held a job in their lives (as Harper for one), never risen above Sergeant and whose greatest achievement for Canada was being a bible school grad.

good point, Steve. People are saying quit blaming Couillard, the focus belongs on Bernier, but you're right - Harper picked him to curry favour with Quebec, knowing (or he should have known, at least) that Bernier was out of his depth in DFAIT.

Then Harper went through the fiasco of trying to call the mess a personal matter. He pulls all the strings, we know that, so yes, this latest is a reflection of his poor choices.

I wouldn't say Bernier was totally incompetent in all fields, but certainly he was in foreign affairs. His expertise is economic policy, not foreign policy. That being said, I cannot think of anyone in the Conservative benches that is competent in foreign policy. It may be one of the most difficult portfolios, but these guys are just a joke. Its just a good thing that we are such a small country so any damage they cause can easily be repaired whereas if we were a larger country that might not be the case.

Until they are removed from office, the government should take a more isolationist approach since for all its flaws, at least you cannot do anything bad by doing nothing, but neither can you do anything good, so if you are always screwing up in something you might as well do less of it. Off course I would not advise the Liberals to follow an isolationist approach as they have had the ability to some degree to do good.